One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 finally hits stateside, but is it better than the original? Our review is below.

I’ve just recently started playing the Pirate Warriors franchise, and  as a fan of the Anime, I was pretty much “suckered” into having interest. Honestly I was never interested in the franchise that it’s modeled after (Dynasty Warriors), so it took me by a pleasant surprise, but enough of my pre-Pirate Warrior jitters and on to the review.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 is an 2013 beat’em up developed and published by Techmo Koei and Namco Bandai Games, it is a sequel to 2012’s One Piece: Pirate Warriors, and is available exclusively on the PlayStation 3.

Monkey D. Luffy and Ivankov kicking some pirate ass!

THE GOOD: One Piece: Pirate Warriors leaves off where the original Pirate Warriors left us, however unlike it’s predecessor, it follows it’s own storyline instead of following the cannon. If you’ve ever played the original or Dynasty Warriors, then you quickly get the jist of the gameplay. The game is fairly long for a digital title, giving you about 5-9 hours of gameplay give or take.

Here’s Jinbei!

Character selection is strong, there’s over 20 or so to choose from. The game is full of content to unlock such as alternative costumes and wanted posters of characters. You can also upgrade a character with exp gained throughout story mode. While there’s also co-op I really didn’t get a chance to use it.

Boa Hancock using her Devil Fruit.

THE BAD: The game gives you no reason to choose any of the vast array of characters besides Luffy. Unless of course they’re one of your favorites of the franchise, otherwise besides their Crew Log episode there’s virtual no point. Gameplay gets old pretty fast. While it’s interesting that they chose to use an original storyline over the canon despite the fact that it takes place during the 2 year time skip, fans might not enjoy it.

Crocodile using his sand.

THE UGLY: Moves are extremely limited.

Mihawk being badass.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: One Piece: Pirate warriors isn’t perfect, but it’s full of moments that will make even the most critical One Piece fan happy. Gameplay gets old pretty fast, but the vast unlockables and character selection brings joy. however, the game doesn’t give you very much reason to choose any other than Luffy besides the occasional Crew Episode.